The Pink 'Un says: "As for the mainline railways, a deal struck last year securing the network's funding until 2014 will reduce dependence on subsidies and shrink the issue's potential to cause political headaches".

Perhaps someone should explain to the FT's transport specialists that the High Level Output Specification and Statement of Funds Available wasn't a 'deal'.

And that if Network Rail decides to challenge the Office of Rail Regulation's miserly allowance, which it looks set to do when the final determination is published at the end of October, then a referral to the Competition Commission will follow; causing whoever sits in Ruth Kelly's vacated chair one hell of a headache.

And DafT knows all about the CoCo's ability to cause headaches (see Railway Eyepassim).